MA trip part 2 - Beach

Wednesday we headed to the beach with Colin, Nichole, Mckenzie and Emilie. We got there around 4 so it was pretty empty and the sun was hiding behind clouds. I wasn't sure how Aubrey would do - she hates getting sand on her feet at the park and she's not a fan of cold water. However, she had a blast!

Kenzie, Colin and Brian went on the search for crabs while Nichole, Emilie, Aubrey and I hung out near the water. Aubrey started picking up rocks and throwing them into the water. With each rock that she threw she became a bit more brave and ventured into the waves a bit. After awhile her legs must have gotten tired because she squatted in the water and soaked her clothes. Hence the diaper pictures!

We finally convinced her to give the rocks a rest and we went to the crab area. Kenzie had left her bucket full of crabs when she went to talk to Colin and Brian. Aubrey hightailed it to the bucket to play and tipped the bucket and freaked when the crabs came out and started walking towards her!

After the crab experience Kenzie and Aubrey went into the water. Colin carried Aubrey into the water and got her wet in the waves. She loved it! The cold water didn't seem to bother her at all! She had a blast seeing the waves come up and crash into them.

After a brief swim she climbed up on the lifeguard station with Nichole and the girls and had a photo op. We then got dressed and headed to the playground where she had a ton of fun running all over the place. She took a carousel ride with everyone (minus me) and then we headed off to dinner. After dinner we got some ice cream and Aubrey stole almost every one of Kenzie's gummy bears from her sundae. Kenzie was a great sport about it and didn't mind at all!

MA trip - multiple posts to come

Wow - it's taken a while to start these posts. Between work, the pregnancy and still not sleeping through the night I find myself going to bed with Aubrey between 8:00 - 9:00 every night. That of course means no blogging. Sorry!

We headed back to MA the last week in July to visit family and friends. On the way we had a direct flight and Miss A did fantastic! She fell asleep right after take off and napped for a little bit over an hour. When she woke up it was time to play! She kept busy with markers, stickers, book reading and snacking.

We got to Nana and Nani's house pretty late for MA time. Our goal was to stick with Arizona time so as to not need to worry about a transition when we came back home. We talked with Nani for a bit and then headed to bed. We woke up Sunday morning and Aubrey fell in love with Noah (as you can see from the pictures above). They were the best of buds while we were there!

Sunday we headed out to Adams to see some friends. It was a 2 hour drive and I was nervous about how Aubrey might do after being cooped up on the plane the day before. I was worried for no reason - she did great! We got to Mr. & Mrs. Mendel's house and got to spend the day outside with Josh, Dana, JoMo, Chad, Marcia and their girls Lauren and Kiera. Aubrey had a blast running around the back yard, playing with the girls and eating blackberries right off the bushes in the yard. Mr. Mendel found some old toys that she got to play with as well and even took a few of them home with her! Lucky girl!

Monday night we had ravioli's and homemade sauce and meatballs that Nani made. We had a family dinner and got to eat with Nani, Nana and Jeremy. Brian was so happy to have sauce and meatballs. Aubrey had a whole egg for breakfast that morning so wasn't a huge eater at dinner. She did however amuse herself with the tablecloth!

Tuesday we visited the Worcester Ecotarium with Nani. Aubrey had a good time walking around and exploring. She even got to see a real possum walking around and a hedgehog! That night we headed over to Rob and Celeste's house for dinner. Aubrey made a new friend with Pinot their dog. He was so excited to play and so was she! Rob grilled the food out on the deck which was wet from the recent rain. Celeste broke out some towels to dry off the chairs and Aubrey quickly got a hold of a towel and cleaned the entire deck! She had a blast cleaning.

We didn't get to see everyone we had hoped to see when we were in the Worcester area. We missed out on seeing Melissa and her new little one AJ. We also didn't get to see Andrew or Levi. There never seems to be enough time to see everyone and spend quality time with them. Guess that means we'll have to take another trip soon!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our trip.....hopefully coming soon :)

Payson Trip

We headed to Payson for our annual weekend trip. Last year our bowling team bowled in the tournament however this year we placed super low in our league so we didn't qualify to bowl. However Brian joined Tom and Shirley's team, who had placed 2nd in the league so he did get to bowl. We headed to Payson after work/school on Friday and by the time we got there it was bed time. We crawled into bed and Brian and Aubrey layed there with the tv on while I passed right out!

Saturday morning Aubrey and I were up early exploring outside. We saw some lizards that freaked her out! Brian got up and we headed to breakfast where Aubrey ate very little because she was distracted by the stairs and just wanted to climb up and down them. This girl loves stairs! We then went to check out a Farmer's Market where Aubrey was able to walk around and people watch.

By that time our bowling partners Don and Laurie got to town. They opted to have a weekend trip with us! We went to one of the local forests and did some hiking. We went down near the lake and Don, Laurie and Brian were skipping stones into the water. Aubrey saw this and just had to try. She had a blast picking up rocks and tossing them into the water. Don was clapping for her and after one throw he didn't clap so she said, "Clap, clap". Ah this little monkey!

After the hike we headed to dinner and then to the concert on the green. Aubrey spied the playground nearby so she spent half the evening at the slides and half the evening at the concert. She didn't want to sit with us on the blankets to watch - she wanted to get right up near the stage. We'd let her wander over and she'd just watch and listen and then occasionally she'd start to dance. She can wiggle her booty really well. We had a blast watching her dance!

Come on In

I took this picture before school one day. We were on our way out the laundry room door into the garage and Aubrey just looked so cute that I couldn't resist taking some pics. She is standing in the doorway here and it looks just like she is welcoming you in. Hope you enjoy the pic!

Baby in the Belly!

We are at 20 weeks! That's right....this baby is halfway there! Aubrey has been coming to my appointments with me each month. This month she got to sit up on the table with me and see things up close and personal. The doctor listened to the heartbeat first and asked Aubrey if she could hear the baby's heartbeat. Aubrey had no response but was probably thinking, "What baby? There's no baby here." She then got to see the baby on ultrasound and I think was again thinking - "You are silly. There is no baby here."

We occasionally will talk about the baby and tell her that she is going to be a big sister. I usually then will point to my belly and tell her the baby is in there. I don't think she understands because really for a 1.5 year old it's not all that normal to say there is a baby in your belly!

Brian was taking our 20 week belly shot on Wednesday. I knelt down and asked Aubrey to come over. She ran over and touched my belly button and said, "Baby". It was super cute....maybe she is starting to understand. As the date gets closer we are going to enroll in a Big Sibling class at the hospital to get Aubrey a bit more acclimated. She'll get to feed and change a baby doll and will get a tour of the hospital. She'll probably just be excited to be around a bunch of other kiddos.

Milk

Aubrey is finally on board with whole milk! Well, only if it has strawberry Carnation Instant Breakfast mixed in to disguise the taste - but hey I'll take it! We had tried that months ago and she was not a fan but was very curious recently when she saw me drinking it. We're no where near downing a whole 8 oz sippy cup of it but even 2 oz is great! We tried chocolate today because we ran out of strawberry but she wasn't a fan.

I made some pudding pops with some of her whole milk. I figured it would be another way to get some weight on our little miss. We sat her down at the table and told her that she could have a pop. She got very excited and kept saying, "pop" and was waiting and waiting for it to appear. Brian had a tough time getting it out of the mold and eventually Aubrey couldn't wait anymore. She started crying - real tears - all for a pop! After a huge battle Brian finally got it out and Miss A got to enjoy her pop. She loved it!

Happy 4th of July!

We took full advantage of the long weekend! We originally had planned to go to the Mesa celebration on Friday evening but I was ready for bed at 7:00 pm so we opted to get some ice cream and call it an early night instead. Saturday morning we headed to the pool and met up with Jeremy and Eunice and Aubrey's friend Natalie and her parents Sara and Russell. The girls had a blast swimming together! They went down the little slides a few dozen times. They would walk up the 4 stairs to the slide, slide down and then make their way back over to do it again. Most of the time they were successful in walking without slipping but each girl did have a few mishaps where they ended up going under. We picked them right up and after they rubbed the water out of their eyes they were ready to go! Aubrey loves the pool and having Natalie there to play with is an added bonus!

After the pool we headed home for a nap and then lunch. She was starving and packed away a whole hot dog! We headed over to Don and Laurie's for their annual bbq where Aubrey ate a ton of fruit and almost another whole hot dog! Swimming makes her hungry. She got into the pool with both Brian and Don and worked off some of the hot dogs she ate. She had a blast there exploring the house and listening to all of these strangers chat her up!

Sunday we went to church and then later in the day headed to the Arizona Museum for Youth with Katherine, Isaac, Becky and Dave. It had been awhile since Aubrey and Isaac had played together and they had a great time. They got to color with both markers and colored pencils (which I think was the highlight for Aubrey)! They got to play in the kids area which had some fun swivel chairs and some rubber/foam mats and shapes to climb on. Aubrey liked to watch the other kids dress up in the Charlie Brown costumes that were there but she wanted no part of it! She made a paper baseball hat and a paper shark. She and Isaac played on the Charlie Brown piano and pretended to give advice at Lucy's booth. I snagged these pictures from Isaac's blog as we forgot our camera (thanks Becky and Dave). Aubrey got to people watch and was super distracted by all the people that she had the opportunity to check out!

Today we headed to the zoo with Natalie, Sara and Russell. Yes it was 100 degrees out but we kept the girls well hydrated! They had a blast checking out the animals and running around like crazy! We decided to get a zoo membership while we were there because it will be something great for Aubrey to do, especially when the new baby comes. I asked her if she wanted to get a membership and come with the baby and she told me, "no". Well we bought one anyways! After the zoo we headed home for a nap and lunch and then met up with Jeremy at the pool. Aubrey kept looking for Natalie when we first got there but then understood she wasn't coming and had fun hanging out with me.

It's been a bit of a challenge finding fun activities to do when it is 100 plus degrees out but so far so good. I am still on the hunt for other things to keep us busy that won't cost an arm and a leg. More fun stories to come...